Editing Great Chicago Fire (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:Chicago-fire2.jpeg|thumb|Aftermath of the fire, corner of Dearborn and Monroe Streets, 1871]]
Once the fire had ended, the smoldering remains were still too hot for a survey of the damage to be completed for many days. Eventually, the city determined that the fire destroyed an area about {{convert|4|mi|0}} long and averaging {{convert|3/4|mi|0}} wide, encompassing an area of more than {{convert|2000|acre|ha|0}}.<ref name="DonaldMiller"/>{{rp|159}} Destroyed were more than {{convert|73|mi|km}} of roads, {{convert|120|mi|km}} of sidewalk, 2,000 lampposts, 17,500 buildings, and $222 million in property,<ref name="DonaldMiller"/> which was about a third of the city's valuation in 1871.<ref name=Rayfield1997>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.niu.edu/1997/iht419734.html |title=Tragedy in the Chicago Fire and Triumph in the Architectural Response |last=Rayfield |first=Jo Ann |year=1997 |via=Illinois Periodicals Online |publisher=Illinois History Teacher |access-date=September 25, 2018 }}</ref>

On October 11, 1871, General [[Philip H. Sheridan]] came quickly to the aid of the city and was placed in charge by a proclamation, given by mayor [[Roswell B. Mason]]: <blockquote>"The Preservation of the Good Order and Peace of the city is hereby intrusted to Lieut. General P.H. Sheridan, U.S. Army."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.greatchicagofire.org/rescue-and-relief-library/military-rule-chicago.html|title=Military Rule in Chicago|website=The Great Chicago Fire & The Web of Memory|language=en|access-date=January 10, 2020}}</ref></blockquote>To protect the city from looting and violence, the city was put under [[martial law]] for two weeks under Gen. Sheridan's command structure with a mix of regular troops, militia units, police, and a specially organized civilian group "First Regiment of Chicago Volunteers." Former Lieutenant-Governor William Bross, and part owner of the ''Tribune'', later recollected his response to the arrival of Gen. Sheridan and his soldiers: <blockquote>"Never did deeper emotions of joy overcome me. Thank God, those most dear to me and the city as well are safe."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.greatchicagofire.org/rescue-and-relief.html|title=Rescue and Relief|website=The Great Chicago Fire & The Web of Memory|language=en|access-date=January 10, 2020}}</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Philip Sheridan Statue.JPG|thumb|General [[Philip H. Sheridan]], who saved Chicago three times: the Great Fire in October 1871, when he used explosives to stop the spread; again after the Great Fire, protecting the city; and lastly in 1877 during the [[Chicago railroad strike of 1877]], riding in from {{cvt|1000|mi|km}} away to restore order.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-general-sheridan-civil-war-chicago-fire-yellowstone-flashback-tbd-jm-20141211-story.html |title=Why it's called Sheridan Road – or how the general saved Chicago |first=Ron |last=Grossman |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 11, 2014 |access-date=June 26, 2021}}</ref>]]

For two weeks Sheridan's men patrolled the streets, guarded the relief warehouses, and enforced other regulations. On October 24 the troops were relieved of their duties and the volunteers were mustered out of service.<ref name=":0" />

Of the approximately [[Demographics of Chicago|324,000]] inhabitants of Chicago in 1871, 90,000 Chicago residents (about 28% of the population) were left homeless. 120 bodies were recovered, but the death toll may have been as high as 300.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/news/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/|title=The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding' |work=National Geographic|date=January 25, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/great-chicago-fire|title=Chicago Fire of 1871|website=[[History.com]]|date=August 21, 2018 |language=en|access-date=February 19, 2019}}</ref> The county [[coroner]] speculated that an accurate count was impossible, as some victims may have drowned or had been incinerated, leaving no remains.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-01-25|title=The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/|access-date=2022-02-02|website=National Geographic Society|language=en}}</ref>

In the days and weeks following the fire, monetary donations flowed into Chicago from around the country and abroad, along with donations of food, clothing, and other goods. These donations came from individuals, corporations, and cities. New York City gave $450,000 along with clothing and provisions, [[St. Louis]] gave $300,000, and the [[Court of Common Council|Common Council of London]] gave 1,000 guineas, as well as £7,000 from private donations.<ref>''[https://archive.org/details/historyofgreatfi00good_0/page/n6 The Great Fires in Chicago and The West]'', by a Chicago Clergyman, Published by J.W. Goodspeed, Chicago, 1871</ref> In [[Greenock]], Scotland (pop. 40,000) a town meeting raised £518 on the spot.<ref>{{cite news|title= The Chicago Fire|newspaper=[[The Greenock Telegraph]]|date=17 October 1871}}.</ref> [[Cincinnati]], [[Cleveland]], and [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], all commercial rivals, donated hundreds and thousands of dollars. [[Milwaukee]], along with other nearby cities, helped by sending fire-fighting equipment. Food, clothing and books were brought by train from all over the continent.<ref>{{cite journal |first=John J. |last=Pauly | author-link = John J. Pauly|title=The Great Chicago Fire as a National Event |journal=[[American Quarterly]] |volume=36 |number=5 |date=Winter 1984 |page=671 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |jstor=2712866 |doi=10.2307/2712866 }}</ref> Mayor Mason placed the [[Chicago Relief and Aid Society]] in charge of the city's relief efforts.<ref name="DonaldMiller"/>{{rp|162}}

Operating from the [[First Baptist Congregational Church|First Congregational Church]], city officials and [[alderman|aldermen]] began taking steps to preserve order in Chicago. [[Price gouging]] was a key concern, and in one ordinance, the city set the price of bread at 8¢ for a {{convert|12|oz|adj=on}} loaf.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pierce |first=Betty Louise |title=A History of Chicago: The Rise of a Modern City |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1957 |page=7}}</ref> Public buildings were opened as places of refuge, and saloons closed at 9 in the evening for the week following the fire. Many people who were left homeless after the incident were never able to get their normal lives back since all their personal papers and belongings burned in the conflagration.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

After the fire, A. H. Burgess of London proposed an "English Book Donation", to spur a free library in Chicago, in their sympathy with Chicago over the damages suffered.<ref name=CPL /> Libraries in Chicago had been private with membership fees. In April 1872, the City Council passed the ordinance to establish the free [[Chicago Public Library]], starting with the donation from the United Kingdom of more than 8,000 volumes.<ref name=CPL>{{cite web |url=https://www.chipublib.org/cpl-history/ |title=CPL History, 1871–1872 |publisher=Chicago Public Library |access-date=September 26, 2018 }}</ref>

The fire also led to questions about development in the United States. Due to Chicago's rapid expansion at that time, the fire led to Americans reflecting on industrialization. Based on a religious point of view, some said that Americans should return to a more old-fashioned way of life, and that the fire was caused by people ignoring traditional morality. On the other hand, others believed that a lesson to be learned from the fire was that cities needed to improve their building techniques. [[Frederick Law Olmsted]] observed that poor building practices in Chicago were a problem:<ref name=Pauly673/>

<blockquote>Chicago had a weakness for "big things", and liked to think that it was outbuilding New York. It did a great deal of commercial advertising in its house-tops. The faults of construction as well as of art in its great showy buildings must have been numerous. Their walls were thin, and were overweighted with gross and coarse misornamentation.</blockquote>

[[File:Cheer up.jpg|thumb|''Chicago Tribune'' editorial]]

Olmsted also believed that with brick walls, and disciplined firemen and police, the deaths and damage caused would have been much less.<ref name=Pauly673>{{cite journal |first=John J. |last=Pauly |title=The Great Chicago Fire as a National Event |journal=American Quarterly |volume=36 |number=5 |date=Winter 1984 |pages=673–674 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |doi=10.2307/2712866 |jstor=2712866}}</ref>

Almost immediately, the city began to rewrite its fire standards, spurred by the efforts of leading insurance executives, and fire-prevention reformers such as [[Arthur C. Ducat]]. Chicago soon developed one of the country's leading fire-fighting forces.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-01-25|title=The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/chicago-fire-1871-and-great-rebuilding/|access-date=2022-02-02|website=National Geographic Society|language=en}}</ref>
[[File:World Columbian Exposition - White City - 1.JPG|thumb|More than 20 years after the Great Fire, 'The World Columbian Exposition of 1893', known as the 'White City', for being lit up with newly invented light bulbs and electric power.]]
Business owners and land speculators such as [[Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard]] quickly set about rebuilding the city. The first load of lumber for rebuilding was delivered the day the last burning building was extinguished. By the [[World's Columbian Exposition]] 22 years later, Chicago hosted more than 21 million visitors. The [[Palmer House Hilton|Palmer House]] hotel burned to the ground in the fire 13 days after its grand opening. Its developer, [[Potter Palmer]], secured a loan and rebuilt the hotel to higher standards, across the street from the original, proclaiming it to be "The World's First Fireproof Building".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-03|title=Of Grids and the Great Chicago Fire|url=https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/of-grids-and-the-great-chicago-fire/|access-date=2021-09-15|website=The MIT Press Reader|language=en}}</ref>

In 1956, the remaining structures on the original O'Leary property at 558 W. [[DeKoven Street (Chicago)|DeKoven Street]] were torn down for construction of the Chicago Fire Academy, a training facility for Chicago firefighters, known as the Quinn Fire Academy or Chicago Fire Department Training Facility. A bronze [[sculpture]] of stylized flames, entitled ''Pillar of Fire'' by [[Egon Weiner]], was erected on the point of origin in 1961.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://webapps1.chicago.gov/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=1272 |title=Chicago Landmarks |access-date=December 14, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504194842/http://www.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks/S/SiteChicagoFire.html |archive-date=May 4, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>